


Dust Bunnies

by coloured_ink



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Character Reunions, Marvel - Freeform, Other, Peter/Tony reunion, dust - Freeform, lots of hugs, mcu - Freeform, thanos - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 23:05:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14779001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coloured_ink/pseuds/coloured_ink
Summary: I rewatched Infinity War the other day and was upset, so I wrote this!Enjoy <33





	Dust Bunnies

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched Infinity War the other day and was upset, so I wrote this! 
> 
> Enjoy <33

The world was a wasteland, an empty barren place, the ashes of all who crumpled, who left their dusty smudge on the face of the earth, who polluted the air with feathery nothingness, still suffocating those who breathed, those who mourned for the ones they lost to the wind. Half of humanity, half the personalities, half the broken souls and happy hearts and fair and dark-skinned angels, half the freckled faced achievers and the grey-eyed dreamers and the colorful heaps of hair, reduced to nothing but fine particles of everything they once were, reduced to pieces so fragile they couldn’t stand a gentle breeze, unlike the people who had been built from those specks of dust. They were born molded from the earth as clay people and so returned to the dirt they were sculpted from once more, leaving everyone else swallowing questions and fear.    
  
The remaining few huddled together around Tony, who knelt on the ground, his hands sunk into the earth, his eyes glued shut, all but praying for the world to click back into place, for the hands on the clocks to tick back to where they were before any of this had happened. Thor glanced around at the last Avengers. Tony. Steve. Natalia. Bruce. Rhodey. Nebula. It had been hours since Tony and Nebula arrived at earth, and ever since, they all sat in the Wakandan mud, the remnants and destruction of the battle still surrounding them. The Wakandan soldiers who fought in the battle pressed tightly to one another, their bodies’ warmth attempting to ward off the damage Thanos had done.    
  
A slight wind tickled the branches. Nebula raised her head from where it hid beneath her hands. The wind stopped. Then it started again. An eerie movement, a whispered message. She parted her mouth, a question on her lips. She glanced at the trees and then at Tony.   
  
“Something’s coming.”    
  
They all stood as one, alert and weary. Tony cursed under his breath. Thor’s hand went to pick up his ax, only to remember that it had disappeared along with Thanos.    
  
“Heads up, everyone.” Steve’s hesitant voice disrupted the silence.    
  
Suddenly, everyone could feel it. The shift in the atmosphere. The turning of the wheel. They shuffled on their feet. Dug their heels into the dirt. There was a noise. A great rustling from the trees.    
  
Steve backed up, shield ready. “What the hell...?”    
  
The wind gathered speed, now blowing in a circular rather than linear motion. As it blew, it picked up pieces of earth, particles of dust, until what was once just wind was now a tornado of dust. There was a collective gasp as the storm gained momentum, as the cyclone grew so wide they were all forced to distance themselves from it.    
  
All eyes watched as the dust drew shapes in the air, each particle fitting itself into another until it sculpted something so real, so compact that it drew unbelieving gasps from all those watching. Bodies fell from the cyclone, caked in dirt, dusty, dirty, and real. One by one they dropped and everyone ran towards those who fell from the sky, grabbing their arms, caressing their faces, feeling, feeling, _feeling_ to make sure they were actually there.    
  
“My god, I don’t believe it.” Thor’s mouth fell open as he watched soldiers and heroes alike form out of thin air. They were all coming back. Everyone who had vanished in the course of events that had played out. Thor felt himself smile, a giddy quiver in his chest. Loki. Surely he was among the millions who would reappear in these next moments.    
  
A breathless few minutes later, all the Wakandan soldiers who had been wiped from the battlefield were now tightly clung to the soldiers who had waited for them in agony. All the Avengers who had fell victim to the snap now called to the others in disbelief, hugged each other until their breaths were stolen from them. Thor found himself embracing Avengers he hadn’t even met before, like the Spider-boy, who was so elated he started to cry.    
  
“Mr. Thor, do you know where Mr. Stark is? I need to tell him I-“ but just as Thor opened his mouth to answer the sweet boy, Peter heard his name being called from a familiar voice.    
  
“Peter! Peter! Hey, has anyone seen the kid?”    
  
Peter released Thor and turned towards the voice. He spotted Tony in the midst of the crowd, Dr. Strange by his side, a faint worrying expression on his face.    
  
“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark!” Peter jumped up and waved his arms, hoping to catch Tony’s attention. He pushed through the people pressing in on him, keeping his eyes on Tony.    
  
“Mr. Stark! I’m-“ he started as soon as he was within earshot of Tony. His words were stifled as he was crushed against Tony’s chest. Peter felt Tony release a long, strained breath as he held him, as his hand cradled the back of his head, his eyes closed and moist, thanking the universe for bringing his boy back to him. Peter stayed wrapped around him for a few moments, his face pressed into his shirt. He turned his face so his cheek was pressed up against his shoulder blade.    
  
“Mr. Stark,” he let out, his voice paved with guilt, “I’m sor-“   
  
“No, don’t. Just don’t.” Tony’s voice was on the verge of cracking, his eyes still pressed tightly together. He released a shaky breath. “I’ll keep you safer, kid, I promise,” he whispered. Peter didn’t feel Tony’s body shake with relief and didn’t see his face wet with tears, but he knew all the same that his eyes were bloodshot from the silent tears that stained his bloody, worn cheeks. Peter pressed tighter against his chest, feeling a tear tickle the bridge of his own nose, and praying to never leave his grasp again.    
  
Thor turned his face from the sight before the moisture from his eyes blinded him. Dr. Banner stalked up next to him, a bright twinkle in his eyes.    
  
“Thor,” he grinned as he slapped his shoulder heartily from behind. Thor turned, seeing his friend.    
  
“Banner! Good to see you, I’m glad you’re back,” he smiled, pulling the doctor into a quick embrace.    
  
Bruce felt something off, however, as he hugged his large friend. He pulled back with a curious expression.    
  
“Who are you waiting for?” he asked softly.    
  
Thor glanced around, then back at his friend. “Oh, no, I’m not. Nothing,” Thor answered, attempting to hide his obvious hurt beneath a wimpy upward flick of the lips.    
  
Banner squinted up at Thor, realization hitting him as he searched Thor’s grieving eyes, a light so obviously gone from them. A lost light. A perished soul.    
  
“Loki?” Banner’s voice was just above a whisper.    
  
Thor didn’t respond, couldn’t respond. Could barely stand to hear his name said aloud, so real yet intangible, detached from his actually so real and very tangible, lifeless body.    
  
“Oh, Thor... I’m not sure he’s coming back.”    
  
“I know,” Thor cast his eyes downward, unable to look into an expression so sure of Loki’s parting with the world. Unable to allow himself to fully believe that he truly had been robbed of his brother.    
  
Banner squeezed his friend’s arm, sympathetic kindness plastered on his face. He turned from Thor to find and greet the faces he had missed, leaving Thor to trace the mud with his eyes, peeking behind bushes and searching all patches of green earth, all tussles of flattened grass.    
  
The dust had permanently settled, the people basking in each other’s happiness, the Avengers assembled.    
  
Thor stood apart from the rest, already having greeted those they had lost for treacherous hours. The rest of the Avengers gathered together and rejoiced in being one again. Steve and Tony could be seen making severed apologies to one another, voices harsh and full of emotion, eyes soft and regretful. Thor removed himself from the joy of the rest, truth spreading through his gut like a venomous drug. He was gone. He hadn’t left the world like the rest of them. He had left squirming and writhing in the grasp of a beast. He had left unjustly, he had left prematurely. He shouldn’t have left.   
  
Thor glanced back at his friends and realized they were staring at him with confused, worried faces. He saw Banner say something to Tony. The words sent Tony nodding solemnly and the rest glancing away with sorrow. Thor felt his eyes water as he turned his back, felt two single tears drop from his left eye. His eyes fell to the floor of the earth in front of him where he could avoid his friends’ sorrowful faces, where he could avoid being slapped in the face over and over again. Now what did he have to live for? The hope was gone. It had been diminished. As soon as he looked down, though, he wished he hadn’t, for now he held even more grief than when he had cast his eyes this way. There in front of him, lying ever so still and alert, was a lime-green snake. It was as if the universe was testing him. Or mocking him.    
  
Thor turned back, blinking away tears that had already succeeded in clouding his vision. When he did, though, he saw his friends’ gawking expressions.    
  
“Brother.” A soft voice spoke behind him, tickled his eardrums, the hair on his arms, his mind. A soft, oh so familiar voice. A voice riddled with mischief. Thor felt his body rotate, felt his heart rate pick up.    
  
He let out a disbelieving, broken sob.   
  
It was him. It _was_.    
  
His greasy, jet-black hair and glinting eyes and awaiting expression.    
  
_Loki_ , Loki, “Loki.” Thor’s voice came out a strangled, cracked whisper. He all but fell forward as his arms enveloped his brother’s thin structure.    
  
Thor melted into his brother, his eyes closing on all the tears threatening to fall, although a few already had. Even as he held him, even as he squeezed his body and breathed in his distinct smell and felt him catch his breath and hold it for a long time, he couldn’t believe it. He almost refused to believe that this _was_ his brother. That this _was_ his Loki.    
  
“I don’t believe it,” Thor whispered as he pulled back. Loki parted his mouth, attempting to level his breathing, his eyes evidently swimming with unspoken apologies. Thor placed a hand on his brother’s cheek, his expression soft, his eyes filled to the brim with warmth and tender care and a thousand universes bursting with unconditional love. His thumb brushed the pale skin beneath it.   
  
“I _am_ back, brother,” Loki spoke, his words as quiet as the air around the two. Thor’s hand fell to the back of Loki’s neck, squeezing softly. Loki felt his eyes well up. He blinked. In an instant, Thor had his body wrapped around him once again, his chest heaving with great huffs of emotion.    
  
“I knew you would return, Loki.” Thor couldn’t stop his voice from breaking. Loki stood frozen in his arms. He let himself get lost in the warmth emanating from Thor’s arms- Thor’s body. This was almost too new for him.    
  
“Well, I did tell you. I did tell you the sun would shine on us again,” he spoke with a hint of arrogance, a soft, unsure, breathy laugh escaping his mouth. Was that what he was supposed to say?    
  
But Thor didn’t laugh at Loki’s words. He only tightened his grasp on his brother, tears spilling unforgivingly from his eyes. Loki sucked in a quavering breath. The air around them seemed to suffocate them. Or perhaps it was just Thor’s body. His brother’s body. His brother, who mourned for him and worried for him and who hugged him so tight Loki was sure his guts would spill out of him. His expression softened. He felt his arms raise to curl around Thor’s back.    
  
“I wouldn’t leave you like that, brother.” His words were barely audible. A choked whisper, a broken declaration of love. Loki bowed his head to press against his brother’s body. He wrapped his wiry arms tighter against him. He felt tears slip from his eyes, so he shut them, closing off the remainder of the world. The only sounds he heard were the trembling breaths of his brother, the only thing he wanted to feel was his brother’s grasp, was his own arms enclosed around Thor’s larger form, was the warmth that he clutched onto so selfishly. He bathed in it, relished the way it made his skin glow from the heat, the way it made his eyes well up like this.    
  
Of course he hadn’t left his brother. Of course he had come back. Why wouldn’t he have?


End file.
